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IHE 




EXPERIENCE 



OF AN 

AMERICAN REFUGEE 



BY 
HOPE C. B. CHAPIN 



(Mf\S. Howard WV Cha?^n) 



Providence 
1914 






.Sl-V 



E. A. Johnson & Co. 
Printers 



The "San Giovanni" sailed from Naples 
on Saturday, Aug. 15^ at 11:45 p. m., car- 
rying some 750 American tourists, who 
were caught in the European "cockpit." 
This is only a very small percentage of 
the American travellers now in Europe. 

We were in Florence when the first 
realization of the serious aspect of the 
war situation was thrust upon us. We 
had been travelling among some of the 
hill towns and had seen no newspapers 
for a few days before reaching Florence. 
This was Aug. 4. We had, of course, heard 
that Germany and France were at war 
but when England entered the field we, 
like many others, realized to some extent 
the serious aspect of the situation. We 
found that lettters of credit and banker's 
checks could not be cashed and at the 
same time we heard that all steamship 
sailings were cancelled. We had a letter 
of credit on Brown, Shipley & Co., Lon- 
don, but we could not obtain money on 
it anywhere. Having no other securities 
and only a little Italian money, we de- 
cided to return to Rome on our "Abo- 
namenta" tickets. These tickets are is- 
sued with a time and district limit and 
although paid for, are used the same as 
passes. As we still retained them, we 
could return to Rome, where we supposed 
we would find, if not plenty of money, at 
least some. Much to our surprise and 
rather indignation on reaching Rome we 
found the situation just as difficult and 
even Italians with large bank accounts^ 
could procure only a very small percent 
of their money. Very little definite in 
formation could be obtained either con- 
cerning the war or financial situation 



One thing was definite, there was no way 
of obtaining money. We decided that it 
was best to remain in Rome. Hon. 

Thomas Nelson Page, United States am- 
bassador to Italy, was in Paris at this 
time but returned to Rome at his first op- 
portunity. Americans besieged the Amer- 
ican embassy and consulate seeking help 
and information. Finally a committee of 
more or less prominent Americans was 
formed which held meetings daily at the 
Royal Hotel, where Americans could 
come and receive any information avail- 
able. This relieved the stress on the em- 
bassy and consulate. No information of 
any moment was received and there seem- 
ed to be nothing to do but wait and we 
were all informed to hold on to any cash 
we had as there was no knowledge of how 
long it would be before it would be possi- 
ble to obtain any more. Many of the ho- 
tels in Rome announced that they would 
take people on credit, and not present 
their bills temporarily, still they expected 
their pay eventually. The situation waa 
not an agreeable one_ not knowing how 
long we might be marooned there, hav- 
ing only a few lira and anticipating that 
Italy might at any time enter the field of 
war. Mobilization was going on rapidly 
throughout Italy. 

"We cabled to America for funds and re- 
ceived three cables in reply. First that no 
means of sending money to Europe was 
possible and finally in a day or two that 
a sum had been deposited to our credit 
with the Federal government at Washing- 
ton and would be paid to us through Mr. 
Page. We were unable to procure this 
money as the Italian banks would not pay 



until the actual gold arrived. After days 
of fruitless search for Information, we 
heard officially that the American govern- 
ment had sent the U. S. battleship "Ten- 
nessee" with $2,500,000 in gold for the relief 
of Americans in Europe. However, it 
looked as though it would be a long time 
before any of that would reach Italy as 
naturall.v those caught in countries in the 
war district, were most in need. 

It was unbearably hot in Rome and it 
was especially impressed upon us as very 
few icculd afford to drive. We heard many 
rumors without sufficient foundation to 
believe. We were told that the United 
States government was sending transports 
for all the Americans in Europe. Then we 
heard that they could send only for those 
in northern Europe. When it was realized 
how great a number of Americans must 
be in Eiirope, some estimated it to be ovei 
50,000, we realized that it must be impos- 
sible to send enough transports for all 
and it would surely be some time before 
it could be possible to send for any. How* 
ever we were all given printed slips to fill 
out with the following questions to an- 
swer : 

American Committee, Rome, Italy. 
(Please write plainly.) 

N'ame in full. 

Address in Rome. 

Address at home. 

Are you with a party? If so, name and 
local address of leader. 

Return ticket by. Date of sailing and 
port. 

Price paid. Class. 

Funds — State in full amount of each: 

American Express cheques, $ 

American Bankers cheques, $ 

Other resources cheques, $ 

liCtters of credit on. 



Foreign gold. 

Italian monej'. 

What bank in America can you draw 

from? 
If no personal funds in America, to whom 

can appeal be made for funds? 
In case of necessity, to whom in America 

must word be sent? 
How soon must you be in America and 

why? 
Remarks. 

We heard that the Pierce Bros, owners 
of the Sicula-Americana line, were plan- 
ning to send a ship on Aug. 15 to the 
United States. They were to fit out the 
"San Giovanni," which is ordinarily used 
for steerage only, having room for but 24 
first cabin passengers. This was to be 
transformed in three days so that it 
would be possible to carry 800 passengers 
by dividing it up sometimes by burlap 
and sometimes by rough wooden parti- 
tions into compartments. We did not in- 
vestigate this at first as we heard so 
many discouraging reports as to the san- 
itary conditions. Also the Sicula-Ameri- 
cana line would at first only book those 
who could pay for their passage in ready 
money. As the bookings did not go fast, 
they announced that they would accept a 
small deposit, the remainder to be paid 
in New York. 

As the days passed the situation became 
so alarming that any means of transport- 
ation to America available seemed to be 
wise. We left for Naples and secured 
passage on the "'San Giovanni," at 550 
liras each. The first cabin was of course 
all secured and they designated the rest 
of the ship "second class" although the 
food and service was to be the same. For- 
tunately for us, we knew an Italian gen- 



tleman in Rome who kindly lent us 
enough to secure our passage, even 
though he could get only a small part of 
his own money, from the banks. 

Also we succeeded in borrowing $30 in 
Italian money from the U. S. consul on an 
unsecured three months note. With these 
loans we were enabled to pay our hotel 
bills and buy our tickets to Naples. 

There was much misgiving about the 
ship's sailing, but finally we pulled from 
the dock in Naples at 11:45 Saturday eve- 
ning. Such a crowd of thankful people 
we all were and all the inconveniences we 
were to put up with for the next two 
weeks oould not make us regret that we 
had left Europe. Our compartment was 
for two but most of them contained four 
or six berths and a few had eight and 
one 12 berths. Just as many were squeez- 
ed in as possible and every one had to 
literally "double up." The ship was clean- 
ed up by paint and presented quite a 
clean appearance. Sanitary conditions 
were not of the best although effort was 
made to make them as good as possible 
under the trying conditions. Steerage 
bunks were erected lin the cabins with 
straw mattresses. New bed linen was 
furnished and electric lights installed in 
each room. It is estimated that the re- 
construction cost $13,000. One part of the 
ship was made into a temporary dining 
room by the erection of rough wooden 
tables and benches. The service was de- 
cidedly poor at first but improved a lit- 
tle. The kitchen and bakery on the top 
deck were in full view and the rathei 
unclean appearance and manner of pre- 
paring food was not very appetizing. 



"Wash basins with pails of water and mir- 
rors were placed in the hallways for gen- 
eral use. The enterprising Neapolitans be 
sides vending fruit from their boats be- 
fore the ship sailed also got a supply of 
steamer chairs^ in every degree of delapi- 
dation, which were sold at a premium. 
They also sold tin basins which proved a 
great boom to the fortunate buyers. Some 
amusing scenes were to be seen when 
conventionality fell and every stage of 
dress and undress could be seen in the 
hallways, which served as boudoirs and 
barber shops. Men as well as women turn- 
ed laundresses as many had only a very 
limited supply of wearing apparel, their 
baggage being in various places in Eu- 
rope. 

The first officer was taken for army 
service in Italy on the very day of sail- 
ing. The stewards were of an ignorant 
class of Italians, many never having 
shipped before. 

No steerage were carried on this trip of 
the "San Giovanni." There were 24 first 
cabin passengers and the other 700 were 
designated "second cabin," although the 
same food and entire run of the ship was 
given us. All the passengers were Ameri- 
can citizens. 

The first few days were rather uncom- 
fortable until we grew adjusted to our 
conditions and all were thankful to be 
leaving Europe at any inconvenience. 
Until we had passed Gibraltar we were 
all anxious, for of course we had no 
means of knowing just what might hap- 
pen to us there. Orders were received by 
wireless to pass Gibraltar at 12 o'clock' 
noon. We passed through the straits at 



noon on the 19th. As we neared the great 
rock, our signal flags were hoisted to 
designate who we were. We passed be- 
tween British torpedo boats to whom we 
dipped our colors and when they return- 
ed the salute, we felt that we were to be 
allowed to go through. Further out we 
passed three British warships. We sight- 
ed Santa Maria. one of the 
Azores islands on the 22nd and pass- 
ed rather near to it. The rest of the 
voyage was uneventful. The days passed 
in games of cards chess, gossip and com- 
plaints, but on the whole every one took 
the situation good naturedly. All being 
grateful to be on our way to our native 
land. Every afternoon an entertainment 
was given on deck by the passengers 
consisting of songs and narratives of vari- 
ous experiences some serious and many 
amusing. 

It seemed to be necessary to keep tlie 
port holes on the lowest deck closed al- 
most all the way. Consequently rather 
than spend sleepless nights in stuffy 
cabins with four or five others, a great 
majority of the passengers preferred to 
sleep on deck and a unique sight it was 
about 10:80 each evening when men, wom- 
en and children appeared armed with rugs 
and pillows and sometimes mattresses. 
The choicest spots were taken first, these 
seemed to be the broad tables erected for 
temporary use on the deck. One being 
used by the captain in the day time for 
meals. 

Although Captain Ziniti and his officers 
tried to do their best for us all, we rather 
felt that we were not receiving much bet- 
ter service than ordinary steerage and at 



about quadruple the price. However, we 
felt that the owners were to blame and 
possibly not so much as it seemed, for no 
doubt the food and service would seem 
to them plenty good enough. Italian 
cooking except in the very highest cir- 
cles is pretty poor a.t its best and dirt is 
synonimous with southern Italy. We have 
all surely had a hard test on our diges- 
tive apparatus as w^ell as our dispositions, 
yet at the same time we are all duly 
grateful for the opportunity to return to 
America and hope that our fel'low-citizens 
still in the hot-bed of Europe will soon 
be relieved and have the opportunity of 
returning. 



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